KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY HONORABLE MINISTER OF TOURISM ON THE OFFICIAL INAUGURATION OF THE INDIGENOUS CATERERS ASSOCIATION OF GHANA
DATE: WEDNESDAY 18TH JUNE 2008

Madam Chairperson,     
Colleague Ministers,
Her Excellency the Indian High Commissioner to Ghana,
The Executive Director of Ghana Tourist Board,
Madam Patron,  
Members of the Indigenous Caterers Association,
Friends from the media,
Invited guests, Ladies and gentlemen:

Good morning and thank you for inviting me to your inauguration. I am grateful for the opportunity to interact with one of the most important pillars of tourism in Ghana – the indigenous caterers.

I am also glad to be here to express my solidarity with you because I believe that your importance to the socio-economic sector of Ghana is one that is easily recognized and commendable. It is with pride and great admiration that we all bear witness to your commitment and dedication to a vocation that feeds our own people and many visitors who travel to Ghana for various activities.
Government acknowledges your hard work and would like to use this platform to pledge its support to the association.
As you already know, many people in Ghana depend on meals prepared by our indigenous caterers with our staple foods and as such there is the need for us to work towards ensuring that we are not affected by the global food crisis. As an initial step, Government has recently put in place some measures to cushion the shocks by introducing some tax exemptions on rice, wheat, and yellow corn among others. It is Government’s wish and commitment that more will be done to ensure that Ghanaians do not suffer unnecessarily from the current food crisis sweeping across the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great delight to note that Ghana has adequate supplies of our staple foods and that there are even signs that a bumper harvest may come very soon. This is definitely great news for the industry and all Ghanaians, but may I put in a quick reminder of the lessons to be learnt from the global food situation. We must be careful not to waste food and do our best to ensure that we produce enough to feed our people, and also to preserve the excesses for future use.

I must mention here that Government appreciates your efforts and thoughtfulness at maintaining the prices of your meals. We are glad that the speculations did not have a negative impact on the quality and quantity of food being sold to the public. I say a big thank you for your collective action.

Please be assured that this Government will continue to do everything necessary to facilitate the growth of small businesses. Already, the MASLOC and other small-scale business financing schemes put in place by government have helped so many traders to expand their operations. We remain faithful to you because we believe in empowering every Ghanaian to create wealth for himself, his family, the entire community and also for the betterment of our nation.

Ladies and gentlemen, tourism could be a big foreign exchange earner in our country if we all try to push it to a level that meets international and visitor expectations. And it goes without saying that indigenous Ghanaian dishes have an enviable and important role to play in this drive. With enough support from the public and other institutions concerned, we can make our local dishes one of the centers of attraction in our tourism sector.

 I am reliably informed that some of your members have already benefited from the Ministry’s tourism programmes in Japan and Morocco. We hope to make more of such opportunities available to boost the image of the nation and further develop our local industries.

By providing funding for the expansion of local businesses such as the indigenous food industry, Government hopes to create more jobs to facilitate the growth of our economy. We believe that with a united front our tourism industry, which encompasses the indigenous catering sector, has the potential to become a much bigger income earner than we can imagine.
 
It is my hope that the food industry will from today take its rightful place on a par with Ghana’s most successful industries and create a world of exciting taste and adventure for both caterers and consumers. I would like to conclude by encouraging you to stay focused and innovative in your art, and also use this opportunity to wish you the very best in your profession.
 
Thank you and May God bless us all.